I enjoyed this one for the most part. I don’t think it’s slow paced as some have complained about. I can see Akira’s insecurity and the magnitude o flow it has affected and shaped him as an adult. So him being supper resistant and cowardly despite his attraction is understandable. The relationship dynamic also works for their personality - Akira retreats consistently while Shin is the more aggressive one. Shin said it best, “with you being indecisive I thought I’d wear you down” i’m paraphrasing here but you get the gist. Besides I love the 18 year old Shin making the 29 year old squirm and blush. It was always a delight to see.

The problem with this one isn’t so much the characters but the length of the drama which made the build up and tension fizzle out. Episode 9 was the death nail for this drama which took a strong end of episode 8 and followed it up with a boring filler episode and nothing that came after that one was able to match the intensity built with that beach side conversation. This missed opportunity made the resolution and end fall flat. The remaining episodes weren’t used to give the main characters any additional growth or development but rather was spent on a last minute relationship development for a side couple whom lets be honest, no one was as invested in. Although I liked the side characters individually well enough, their story wasn’t remotely interesting enough to warrant the time taken on their story either. I think this one would have worked best if it was 10 episodes.

Overall, not a bad watch but I felt a little sting from the disappointment since I love age gaps and especially ones where the younger one is the pursuer and while it had potential it failed to stick the landing for me.

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This was better than I expected. I had really worried they’d make it cringe just so they can mainstream BDSM but this was thoughtfully made. This was more of an introduction to BDSM with the script including informative dialogue to provide a more accurate representation of what fetish is as opposed to the misguided notion the public has on it (ironically enough, the script took care in doing so and yet there was a comment on the drama page that concluded the kink signified trauma and the characters needed therapy. Smh. The damage 50 shade of hell did is irreparable!)

I’d label this more as a rom-com than kink tv with the 1st third making me giggle (and cringe) while the 2nd third had enough sensual and the final 3rd closed the loop by bringing both together. The actors did very well in depicting their respective characters perfectly (disregard synopsis description of ML for this). Although many are impressed by Lee Jun Young’s performance (he did indeed do very well) my eyes were fixed on Seo Hyun. 1st reason being my superficial side found her damn fine esp. in that red room. In leather. (Netflix being petty wouldn’t let me screenshot) but 2nd reason being, I love how calm and collected her character was and how mature and diligent she was in learning this new life she found herself into. Watching her go from utterly innocent to a dominatrix was fascinating to watch.

Besides the contractual DS part, the movie also touches on subjects of misogyny, insecurity, misperception etc. Though these issues were shown they were not deeply explored. And even when dealt with it was on a quick and superficial manner. Which considering the time constraint is understandable.

Now what I didn’t like is the office drama in the last third. I’d have preferred if the script hadn’t gone that route and had actually maintained the stance that work and personal life can completely stay separate. To top it off I hate public declaration of affection/ preachy speeches and sermons and they decided to do that. It was completely unnecessary and major cringe!

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My god this was awful. This lacked in so many places I don’t even know what to say. The cringe was just so high I got goosebumps. The script was downright dreadful, barely interesting characters it’s like the writer didn’t even make an effort. I’ve put a lot more exertions in trying to finish this drama than the production did in making a sensible, watchable drama.

The premise had potential, I’ll admit- a son of a mafia with a rare blood type and a bodyguard raised solely to be a blood bank; a turf war on the verge of brimming over; a spoiled, over-protected, rich kid experiencing falling in love and the orphaned bodyguard who doesn’t believe his life is worth more than the bag of blood he donates regularly struggling with his growing feelings that threaten to cross the line of what he was entrusted to protect…. This could have been a beautiful tragedy or even a slightly dark rom-com but it seems the script writer didn’t know how to expand on this to go any further. The script looked like it wouldn’t pass a middle school English writing class. The terrible script was accompanied by mediocre acting, lackluster dialogue, with the exception of one or two scenes, poorly choreographed fight scenes, one dimensional characters and comical villains who narrate their evil plans out loud and punctuate it by belting out a boisterous hahaha at the end. And Gun’s acting was just … ugh no, nah. I couldn’t even find salvation in the side couple because again they were very poorly developed. Like when did they get together did they even show that? Or did I miss it while I was desperately trying to smooth out the hair on my arms that’ve been standing like they were exposed to static electricity.

My goodness! If the growing number of titles on my dropped list wasn’t bugging me so much I should have dropped this by that episode where the violins came out.

I really wanted to support Gun since I really liked his character in LBC before it was ruined but unfortunately this was more of a trial of patience for me than a support for him.

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I hadn’t expected to actually like it this much but I was pleasantly surprised how much enjoyable I found it.
I think the strength of this drama is definitely the female character. It's been a while since I saw a woman written like a normal human being. Writers seem to confuse strength in a woman with aloofness, coldness, and belly full of schemes especially if they are writing a career woman. Because a woman can’t build a career if she’s not a ballbuster. Or they’ll give you a woman on the other end of the spectrum so immature and whose sole focus is on a man and a man alone. I half the time question if these writers have ever met a woman or it's just misogyny and patriarchy shining through.

The female lead here is an ambitious woman in her 30s. She is smart, good at her job, and here is a kicker, she’s actually nice. She knows how to draw boundaries, is firm but never arrogant or rude. She works hard, knows when to fight and when to retreat. This woman actually looks and acts like someone who’s matured with wisdom gained through lived experience. Even when she was breaking up, rejecting a romantic advance, or responding in a workplace exchange she was never a screaming shrill woman. She never threw tantrums or cursed out people even in places you wish she had. She did everything with dignity and poise. She really was the selling point for me.

The other thing I loved about this drama was how it used our female lead and her best friend to showcase two women, who made different choices in their lives and what problems they face. And more importantly how there is no such thing as a perfect life. One chose to work, the other to get married and when things get tough they look at each other’s life and say “at least your life is better than mine” only for life to show them that what seems perfect is only surface level. Each choice has its own issues, its obstacles, its own freedom, its own happiness. The drama showed us how each woman navigated through it while supporting each other until they came out the other side. It wasn’t dramatic, it wasn’t heroic or epic it was ordinary life. I found it very relatable.

The romance was indeed a slow burn. It was also sweet, mature, and more importantly very much less cringe ?

Now having gone all gaga like this doesn’t mean it doesn’t have problems. I found the work issues rather repetitive at times. I strongly feel this drama should have been about 5 episodes shorter.

The best friend seems to have things available to her at each moment she needs it — having a hard time finding a job, oh I happen to know the kitchen has an opening and omg a housewife for a while and you happen to be a great cook… you don’t want to cook anymore and need something else... Uhm you used to play the drum in college? my band just so happens to have our drummer walk out on us, what a coincidence… what’s that you say? You don’t feel like being a professional drummer.. wait here’s a random guy who happens to own a music school for kids who coincidentally happens to hear your performance and want to hire you at your own term, you don’t like kids ah, not even your nephew? but that one odd kid whom no other music teacher can get through miraculously clicked with you and wants you and you only… ? — please it wouldn’t have killed them to make her struggle just a little.

Another issue would be the terrible taste in jewelry this drama has. Be it the “expensive” dream catcher looking thing they claimed to be a necklace and draped over her neck or the “charming” simple necklace made out of love or the one designed for competition under grueling mental and emotional gymnastics, all looked cheap and tacky. This may seem like a nonissue but the male lead is a supposed wanna be jewelry designer. You can’t tell me the character you want to make a successful career as a designer make things that look like ones my baby sister picked from Clairs. Sorry, I can’t accept that.


"Compared to the 18-year-old or 20-year-old who's still searching, I like myself better in my 30s. Although nobody thinks I'm cute anymore, and I'm aging by the minute, the 35-year-old me compared to my past, knows me better than I've ever before." — As someone in their 30s, I related to this on a spiritual level.

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My wish is to be an adult like you

***Not sure if what’s in here that may be considered major spoiler but there might be minor ones so proceed with caution***


I got recommended this drama over 2 months ago by a user whose name I forgot (i feel awful and I apologize ). I did watch it at that time and in all honesty, it's the drama that pulled me out of a very long drama slump. This drama has two of my favorite tropes - age gap and noona romance!

The drama revolves around Junko Harumi and her three suitors. Once a model student in her middle and high school days, life hasn't been going smoothly for her after she failed to enter Tokyo University. Now 31, she works as a tutor at a private institute where things are not so great. Her romantic life isn't doing any better either. It is at this point in her life that she meets Kyohei Yuri and becomes his tutor. While she worries and shows frustration about things not working out in both her career and her love life, Janko is very oblivious to notice the 3 men that show interest around her. Masashi Yakumo is her smart cousin that went to Tokyo University, who's had feelings for her for a long time. Kyohei Yuri is a disorderly high school student she's tutoring and Kazuma Yamashita is Kyohei ’s teacher in high school.

The drama shows how not getting into Tokyo University has affected Junko. Her relationship with her mother, her confidence in her own self, her feeling jaded about the trajectory of her career and romantic life. It also shows her innocence and her kindheartedness. The only thing about this woman the scriptwriters did that irked me is she pulled out her back every other episode and they use that as a sign of her “getting old”. People I promise you 31 is not that old and we in our 30s don't need to walk around in canes. What is happening! T_T

Anyways, Junko may have had an unfortunate setback in life but she was compensated by having three wonderful men vying for her affection. I love that all the men were non-problematic, genuinely nice, and mature men each bringing their own strength to the table. If I wasn't slightly biased towards one of them, I at one point was thinking she should just take all three and start her own harem. I kid, I kid... (maybe :P)

I enjoyed a lot of things about this drama and the romance. I understand to some people a student/teacher relationship is not something they like. But the relationship is developed in a nice way and no lines were crossed while they were in a teacher/student relationship. I think one of the things that I liked about this drama is the similarity to a real-life event from my childhood. We had a teacher whose love life was like a legend when we were in high school. It is said that this teacher fell in love with a girl when she was still his student. But he never made a move, in fact, he was so unforgivingly strict with her she was convinced he hated her. He waited until she finished her 1st year of college before asking her out. They are married with kids and known as having a very close relationship. It's like one of those romances you find in novels or movies so you can imagine why their story would be popular. Watching this drama actually took me back in time and reminded me of a story I had long forgotten.

*️⃣To the person who recommended this to me, thank you so much!!! I enjoyed this very much. So much so I had the urge to run out and dye my hair pink and the only thing that stopped me was my hairdresser not being available.

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Failure to Launch

How to describe this drama… this was one part fluff, one part serious and one part SFX and poop jokes. When I complained about the SFX punctuating every conversation, every serious topic I was told “its satire don’t expect it to set a serious tone”. But then they hit you with heavy duty stuff about coming out, family struggles, relationship insecurities and in between they fill you up with fluff and a blatant display of product placement. The entire way I didn’t know what gage I should set my emotions to.

As you read below you’ll see that I didn’t hate all of it. There were actually decent plot lines, interesting character developments and genuine scenes in there that I have liked but that only magnified its week points and made it glaringly evident how much the drama ultimately failed to fully utilize its potential.

Kao is the Thai version of “Your Oppa can’t act”. Okay, he’s not completely terrible but his acting is not smooth and his dialogue delivery comes off robotic. He wasn’t always able to create that connection between his character and the audience. His character comes off unpleasantly aggressive at times, territorial/controlling and also sweet and sincere. I’ll be honest, he isn’t the kind of character that will leave any lasting impression on me.

Up’s acting and his character Gene were the selling point for me. He was the perfect amount of reserved, awkward, antisocial and insecure without coming off as weird. Gene is shown as he deals with the pressures of an overstepping book agent, a new awakened desires, and lingering insecurities as he is shoved into new and unfamiliar environment in both work and social life. The confrontation between Gene and his family has to be one of the most memorable part of the drama for me. Whether its Gene’s defiant stand, the protective brother, the mediating mother or the hard on the outside soft on the inside father, the entire thing was set for maximum emotional impact and it delivered.

Aey a character damaged by both family and love; shows the self-destructive nature some have when they feel hurt and betrayed. Like either the world delivers what it owes him for his pain. or its scorch earth to everything and everyone so they can join him in his hell . The irony of someone who craves attention, validation, acceptance and love from everyone and anyone but alienates, manipulates and burn everything he touches. Although, ON SIGHT, I’d come at this guy with a can of gorilla glue spray, I’m glad that the drama didn’t feed us some “love overcomes all” BS with him. Not everyone can be redeemed nor want to be saved. Not everyone’s pain can be eased/erased nor can their wounds be healed. Some stay angry and hurt and twisted to the end.

Tiffy/Tum were the cute second couple everyone roots for. Not a lot that could have been were explored with them, so in the end I felt neither one way or another.

I had a decent (okay, slightly higher than decent) expectation for this drama before it started airing, but it didn’t end up delivering for me. It actually upsets me when I think about scenes like the one with Gene and his family, his conversation with his father, Aey’s relationship with his family, the issues related to BL industry and fandom and how much more this drama could have been if it hadn’t half-assed it.

If I were to be honest, this is more of a 6.5 for me but I’m giving it a 7 for Up’s acting and the memorable scenes.

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Posterity for the birds

This is my final thought, ramble, rant... call it what you will.

This may have a mild spoiler proceed with caution.

Good plot, good acting, excellent OST. Interesting main and side characters who all managed to standout on their own. Good pacing but it did lag towards the end. I really think they could have worked to make this ended at 42. Unnecessarily dragging it out to 49 did the drama a great disservice.

What I liked:

* Hao Du - Best boy. Only character that mattered from the get-go! You can’t imagine how much I like him. I watched Zhao Lusi for you TT (okay, I'll admit this character fitted her well but still... only for Hao Du!)

* Changge- was she perfect? No. But she was a great character to watch. A strong, defiant, smart and fearless character who puts loyalty and country above personal grudge. She is impulsive, cold, unreasonable at times too. The drama shows you how each experience shapes her, how it layer by layer peals off her shell, her anger, her resistance. Overall, this was a very well developed character.

* Li Shimin - okay the actor did really well in this role (this role fits him so much better than the one he played in LoF. He really came off as comical in that)
I'm a little disappointed though that we only got to see the empathetic side of him. He's Emperor Taizong and he's considered one of the greatest emperors in Chinese history! You don't become someone like that by ruling with benevolence alone. He had to also have been shrewd, cunning and calculative and a bit of ruthless to some extent. All great men who leave their mark on history are and I'd have liked to see a little bit of that instead of just showing his kindness.

* Minister Du - I know a well written character when I see a character that you initially dislike or feel is going to be the antagonist to the end but as the story progresses you see parts of their personality that makes you reevaluate your initial impression. Not because they went through a redemption arc, they are still the same people with the same principle but you find that you understand them better now. This was a character I didn't expect to be moved by this much but I nevertheless was (why am I surprised, he raised Hao Du!)

* She'er - this is a very stereotypical character. The arrogant, seemingly cruel misunderstood character but is in fact the innocent of them all. I think I like him because he's a cliched character, sometimes there is comfort in the known.

* Princess Yi Cheng/Khatun - regardless of how you may feel about her, I thought this was a very good, multi-layered character. Unrepentent to the end, which’s a large part of why I like this character, she still manages to pull on your emotions. She is not just one person - an innocent girl, an abandoned princess, a wife, a mother, a Khatun - in every version of her I have found genuine reasons to either empathize or sympathize with.

* Richard Wang's cameo - even if it was brief, the man showed up looking like an elf and giving me LoTR's crossover images I didn't know I needed.

* Underrated CP: Xu Feng and Shi Ba ❤️

What I didn't like:

* Li Change's lipstick - and this is why I HATE cross dressing/gender bending dramas. The lack of commitment. Dilraba did a very good job acting as Li Shi Si with her demeanor and aloofness but yet time and time again they have her in bright shades of lipsticks. Why? were they afraid she wouldn't look attractive enough for fans? Didn't she still get criticize for the 2 hair strands? If you can't please anyone at the very least commit to your craft. I don't need all my leading actor/actresses to stand out. I rather they play a convincing role. I'm already suspending logic pretending I don't see their chest.

* The anime- I had initially thought it was actually pretty cool to incorporate the anime in the drama but the drama ended up replacing ALL the battle scenes with manhua. WTF! It was very underwhelming. How are you going to ask me to be invested in the outcome of a war when I'm looking at drawings? I want to see blood, and stabbing and cutting and hacking. I want to feel the panic of watching the enemy creep up on a character from behind....There was no tension whatsoever so it was less impactful. To add to this, the badly CGI'd actors pretending to charge into the manhua scenes was so ridiculous, I burst out laughing each time.
Ya, I'm not buying this was due to COVID. It may have started that way but it feels like it's Tencents way of saving money. You'd think at least they'd spare some change and get Changge a 2nd outfit. The girl wore the same blue outfit from Ep 39-46.

* Wei Shu Yu - I know air is free but really we still shouldn't just waste it. Consistently mediocre, a glorified messenger, has neither brain nor spine... I could go on but I don't want to waste any more time on him.

* A'Sun in ep 42 - I really wanted to reach through the screen and throw him off the balcony. It's fine though because Hao Du exists. (okay, this reason is petty and I know but I don't care)

* Mimi Guli - annoying for most of the drama. Am I sad? Yes, but she is still annoying as a character and the dubbing voice didn't help at all. Every time she whined my ears suffered.

Editing this to add how much I hated the birds. This drama should be proud of its accomplishment in making me have strong averse reaction to two cute birds.

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A striking retell

Excerpt:

“He lived a thousand years and he’s beginning to learn to love. But he is yet to understand that love doesn’t come from just one person”

“I have nothing but time” he said....

****
This short film is an adaptation, a compilation, or whatever you call it of the 2008 film of the same name - Painted Skin. The original movie which runs close to 2 hours, tells the story of Xiao Wei (Zhou Xun), a fox spirit who feasts on human hearts in order to maintain her beautiful and youthful appearance. General Wang Sheng (Chen Kun) rescues her from a band of Xiongnus and brings her home. Peace didn’t last long in that house as the demon falls in love with the general who happens to already be married to Pei Rong (Vicki Zhao). Thus, this heartbreaking plot proceeds to show the length the demon will go with her tricks and schemes to get the man she loves and the length Pei Rong will go to protect the man she loves.

In this short film which is about 30 minutes long, we have a condensed version of the plot but with a twist. This short movie swaps the sex and roles of the characters. Xiao Wei (played by Ding Cheng Xin) is now a man. While Wang Sheng (He Cheng Xi) and Pei Rong (Wang Chu Ran) are still a married couple, they have now switched roles. Pei Rong is the general protecting the town, while Wang Sheng stayed home recuperating from an injured leg. So in this film version, it's Pei Rong that rescues and brings Xiao Wei home to her husband. And the rivalry is between Wang Sheng and Xiao Wei.

The visual was aesthetically pleasing. The majority of the movie was shot in the general’s courtyard but the cinematography was beautifully executed it accomplished creating the tragic, poignant ambiance it intended to. The initial meeting, the unspoken suspicion, the subtle and not so subtle rivalry, all took place in this courtyard. The little sword fighting scene it had was very well done.

The acting was surprisingly very good. I was especially moved by He Cheng Xi’s Wang Sheng. He managed to emulate the despair, the fear, and raw emotions his character was feeling. This is not to say that his counter-part Ding Cheng Xin’s Xiao Wei was any less captivating. He succeeded in conveying his character’s seemingly sweet and fragile as well as cunning side beautifully.

This retelling removed the fillers and supporting characters and all the extra fanfare that went into making the 2 hours original movie and just focused on moving the plot around the three characters. Because it did just that, the emotional impact was even more powerful than what I felt with the original. I remember when watching the original, I only watched it for Chen Kun (a girl’s gotta do what a girl's gotta do). I enjoyed the film but I don’t recall it invoking the kind of emotion this mini-film did. Maybe it’s because it’s been a while and I forgot.... but I think I’ll remember this one.

Another thing this movie did differently is it put the focus on Xiao Wei and Wang Sheng. How they interacted, how they competed, how they observed each other. In the end, it may seem you are left to wonder - Who did they love exactly?

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Wood chipper meet the Editing room

One word to describe this drama - atrocious! To be more precise - atrociously made. This was so disappointingly bad I couldn’t even come up with a witty headline for this review.

The plot is moving at a 2.0 speed, which won’t allow viewers to fully get immersed in the story let alone connect with any of the characters. There are flashbacks inside flashbacks, which are made worse by the cloudy-looking filter they used.

The editing was so horrible, so disjointed you’ll find yourself confused if the character has even finished speaking before the next scene transports you miles away. This sudden shift between scenes is like spinning the wheel and seeing where it takes you since you can’t fully be sure if you are going to find yourself in another place just geographically or in another time entirely. They are throwing time jumps like they are handing out sample tasting at the food court in the mall. There was an earthquake scene horribly done the whole thing came down like a house of cards. There was no choreography to the fight scenes. The battle scenes were truly laughable and again everything moved at a high speed it’s hard to tell what’s going on.

I was looking forward to watching this since it has a cast like Liu Tao and Vic Chou. After struggling through 8 episodes I had to give up. In an attempt to shorten what I’m assuming was initially meant to be a longer drama, they practically took the drama and edited it through a wood chipper.

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When expectation meets reality

To the unfortunate person who may end up reading this - This is really not a good review. It’s more like a short note of what my thoughts are for the movie. I have seen much better, detailed, reviews to help you decide whether to watch or not. Try WandereR’s and PeachBlossomGodesses’s to get a feel from two different sides of the rating spectrum.

****
This is what one feels when you order something really good online and when they arrive they look nothing like the picture on the website. I was so hyped for this movie when the trailer and the stills were release, but it ended up not delivering.

Maybe this shouldn’t have been a movie? I’m not sure if it’s a lack of time or the script itself, but the plot was a nothing burger. Even for a basic plot (really the motivations was nothing novel) the way the story unfolded was lackluster. One of the people I watched it with and I agreed that even if one didn’t follow the plot from the beginning, the characters pretty much narrated it like a recap at the end.

Anyone who knows me would understand that I’m ready to pick up my paddle and row any ship that has a hint of a bromance, but this ship sunk before it even left the shore. If there was time spent on seeing their relationship growth, some sort of chemistry could have been found. This movie didn’t give enough time to see the growth or bond of the characters that by the time the two leads showed concern for each other I was perplexed as to why? “They hardly know each other!” That was what went through my head every time Qingming screamed out "Boya!" or vise versa.

Too much makeup. And I don't mean Olivia Wang's, who took me about half of the movie to recognize, but rather Deng Lun and Mark Chao who in some scenes looked pasty, powdery, white.

The visuals were stunning though. From the first scene to the last, from the set design and to the CGI, I have liked what I saw. Decent fight scenes. I mean it's not one to blow one's mind, but it was very well done. The accompanying music was very good as well.

Olivia Wang looked beautiful here. I also liked her performance in this. I was pretty moved by her part of the story and could connect and empathize with her character.

Overall, it was not a bad watch but did not live up to the hype.

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Great potential... but falls short of what it could have been

Leave it to the Koreans for originality. The concept itself, a person who suffers from a type of color blindness but who has a chance to see colors if they meet this one person - their probe, is fascinating and opens up to a variety of plot avenues to explore. Although the idea of destiny is not new in Asian dramas for once this wasn’t about some childhood connection that one or both of them had blocked and which comes to be reveled towards the end of the drama. This alone by itself adds a positive value in my book.
The way the drama portrays the personality traits of Mono’s who for most, if not all, their lives live in a world of gray can meet a Probe and gradually change from being awed at seeing colors for the first time to fearing losing the ability to see colors again to being obsessed and in some cases turning violent, allows the viewers to sympathize with their emotions and at the same time be terrified at the very thought. While watching I kept thinking with a proper fleshed out thorough script this concept could make a very very good dark thriller.

I will tell you, this drama has made me research color blindness and have come to know more about cone and whatnot more than I care for. But the whole concept was fascinating .
The drama starts with Yeon Woo who happens to be a Mono, narrating about his fears that comes with a Mono meeting his Probe and wishing that he never meets one for the rest of his life. But fate laughs at us all, as on his first day at a new school Yeon Woo meets 3 friends one of whom turns out to be his Probe (Yoo Han).

As the drama progresses we see our Mono experience seeing color for the first time and going through the emotional turmoil that comes along with it. The actor did a good job expressing the characters emotions- his excitement and fear.

Unfortunately the strength of the drama just so happens to be its biggest flaw as well. A good plot like this needs to be properly fleshed out and explored. This barely scraped the surface of what it could have been and instead filled the already limited time with flashing light of color rush scenes. Additionally, it spent the 8 episode showing from the perspective of Yeon Woo and at the very end pretty much narrated Yoo Han’s side and closed out the chapter. Yoo Han’s reason for his interest in Yeon Woo is another fascinating concept on its own but the drama never gave us the opportunity to related to it. A character (one of the friends in the drama) is nicknamed “grandpa” and who speaks in a prophetic manner is another interesting underdeveloped character that viewers were not given any background on but expected to accept at face value. Not to mention that there are plot differences from what is in the synopsis and what was filmed. Like the investigative part, aside from mentioning that there is an investigation into Yeon Woo’s mother’s disappearance there is nothing that comes out of it, let alone having these two boys be involved with it. At the end- the feeling I was left with was unsatisfied? Disappointed? Maybe both and more.

Is this a good watch? Yes, but I still feel it fell short from what it could have been.

P.S. these color rush scenes btw should come with a warning for those sensitive with flashing light- nearly triggered my migraine the first time!

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Potential but unmemorable

The plot wasn’t something special. Its supposed to be a love story between the confident and popular jock Itt (Marc)and the shy and awkward nerd Pai (Win). Haven’t we heard this story before? Yes, its one as old as time.

I don’t mind basic plot. Really, sometimes that’s all you’re looking for. Uncomplicated, basic, fluff for entertainment. The drama started slow but I didn’t mind it. To make up for its pace, it had two charming supporting characters. The acting is awkward for the most part, but forgivable to some extent. These are young kids so you alway have to take into consideration their inexperience and manage your expectations. But what you can not manage is the lack of chemistry. If I wasn’t told that they were in love I wouldn’t have believed it by just seeing it. It was at least better during the beginning but as the story progressed instead of tension and longing I got nothing. As episodes progressed, the still stiff acting, the snail paced progression, long pauses and the unexciting plot starts to wear you down.

Even with basic plot, success could have been within the realm of possibility for this drama, but it ultimately ended up not delivering. Most things you notice in this drama are missed opportunities for the actors, for the plot to leave a lasting impression. The plot with Itts father was something that could have been explored but was dropped unceremoniously. There have been emotional scenes that should have moved viewers but both leads played it so stiff it ended up laughable. The greatest opportunity, and the very last hope, came in ep 13 for both Win and Marc to play a moving scene, a heartbreaking scene and ... it was bland. Both failed to convey the emotion that the characters were going through. I was especially confused with Win’s acting. I don’t think Win fully grasped the idea of the character he was supposed to play; awkward, shy and introvert doesn’t mean sleepy, stiff, listless and unfeeling.
I held on hope, I promise, to the very last episode I held on hope that there would be something memorable to find. But, it stayed awkward to the end.

The other issue was with how the last episode was told. My god, it was just so underwhelming. The whole thing came off as one of those mini training videos complete with lessons on sex-ed, acceptance and the perfect 2.0 family and wholesome friends. There was no showing of how problems were tackled in a real and meaningful way, just that it was solved.

There is no need to say anything about the music in this drama because there really is nothing worth mentioning. I don’t even remember any of it, except to know that there was some classical thing playing in the background. It was unremarkable.

But not all is gloom and doom with the series. Pure was by far my favorite character. His character was a breath of fresh air. His undeniable chemistry with Waan and the organic development of friendship was the highlight of the drama for me. They may not be paired as a couple in the drama and that’s not a disappointment at all. Because even for a friendship, theirs was still the most interesting and meaningful interaction. Fiat and JJ’s portrayal was great.

I mean I wouldn’t say its a loss to watch it but I can’t in good conscience say its something to be excited about either. MDL’s algorithm tells me I should give it an overall rating of 5 but I’m giving it a 6.5 for Fiat and JJ. Give them their own series you cowards!

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Meh

The first episode had excited me. Taiwan is known for making nice Bl’s so of course I was excited to see another one. But as the episodes went on I found the plot not interesting enough, the chemistry practically nonexistent and I just got bored. There was something missing in it, this one was just bland and it lacked that spark.

I understand it’s challenging to produce a drama with well fleshed out plot and real character growth when you’re making a 10 minutes episode drama, but past experience has shown us how cute and fluff can be done with such time limits. Maybe in a time before Because of You, Where Your Eyes Linger and Mr. Heart, this could have maybe, barely squeaked through as passable. But not now. Not when there are other dramas out there that has shown that they can produce good content with fluff or a little angst and with great chemistry can this be acceptable.

Great kiss scene though, but this is a Taiwanese BL, it can’t pass the test by just a kiss scene. That is at the very least one norm we have come to expect from it.

I really hope Taiwan steps up its game. A country that can produce contents like the HIStory franchise can do so much better than this. And I honestly like Taiwanese BL’s so I wish them luck.

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It should have stayed in draft

Is their story original? No. It was a basic rich arrogant guy falls for the naive poor guy kinda story. For what it lacked in originality it made up for by... not being bland. That’s it. There wasn’t anything outstanding or special about this couple that set them aside from others. I may not have been on this pairings bandwagon even in the first season, but I found them entertaining enough and can admit to their appeal. Besides I love Techno so there was also something to be excited about for me.

I know fans of this couple have waited two years to get this sequel and it should have been an overall success.

Right out the gate, this series turns off most viewers by deciding to restart the TinCan story afresh. Afresh wouldn’t be bad if it was an overall new storyline, rather they pretty much retold what took place in LBC1 in a long winded lackluster way. It took 6 episodes to reach the point of the story that wasn’t already told in LBC1. Its lack of continuity led to a lot of confusion and frustration as it also showed changes in character personality.

Plan’s character seems to have digressed in personality, Mean looked like he didn’t want to be there. I’m not even going to touch Techno and Kengkla’s plot nor Ae’s for that matter. The awkward and bad acting that hasn’t improved in these two years becomes even more evident, by the abysmal script, unimaginative plot, poor choice in OST, overall low quality production. Rather than a highly expected series, this comes off as one of those unknown small company production with first timer production.

The fact that Plan doesn’t even know how to command the muscles around his lips to part for a kiss scene while the script makes him sound like a horny teenager has managed to raise the cringe factor to high level. The only slightly interesting plot in this drama came around the end of the series between Tin’s brother Tul and Gonhin.

I had initially started taking notes so I can write an objective review but by the 3rd ep I chucked the list away since it wasn’t worth the effort. It was bad all over and if I kept making lists than it would be miles long and I can’t do that to myself. I’ll say this much though, This series owes Gun and Mark a huge apology for taking their characters plot from crap in season 1 to still crap here. Thailand owes Mark a better drama! Another apology to Perth, since I have no idea why both he and viewers had to suffer while he was mopping around for an entire season. And another one to Yacht for making him go through this when he had played such a lovable, fun Pond in S1. The only credit this series deserves is it washed off that incest-adjacent relationship between Tum and Tar.

For a series with a highly successful prequel, everything about this series showed the lack of preparation, commitment, and care for quality. If the purpose of making this series was to make the fans wish they could wipe out everything they have watched, I can say this drama has succeeded. If the intention was to give the fans the drama they have patiently waited for, to give the actors who have chosen this as their last project and their fans a chance to bid farewell to these characters, then it was a miserable failure.

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The story starts with our FL played by JJY climbing a tree to get a kite stuck in a tree for her younger brother and slips and falls. While passed out she dreams about an impending doom that would bring misfortune to her and her family. To see how she can save her father from this, Fu Rong disguises herself as a fortune teller and sets up shop in front of the place she’s scouting. Here is where she meets our ML. Our ML played by Zhang Zhe Han, is the 4th prince Xu Jin/Prince Su.

For anyone who has watched The Legend of Yunxi, this indeed started off hitting the right spots. With most of the original cast brought back for this drama along with our main lead, you can’t help but get butterflies at the slightest interaction as old feelings rush back. In the first few episodes, for lack of better analogy, I once described it as “your favorite band getting together for a reunion concert”. The nostalgia, the excitement.. those were the feelings this drama brought.
The writing itself was teasing fans of The Legend of Yunxi by hiding little hints in the dialogue or certain scenes. Like the fireflies scene that Fu Rong and Xu Jin wake up to on the beach is a throwback to how Long Fei loved to see those. Or when Prince Su told Fu Rong ‘having a son would elevate her status” was a reference to what Yun Xi said to Long Fei. Little hidden Easter eggs like this were an absolute delight to fans of The Legend of Yunxi.

If Legend of Yunxi was on the serious side of the spectrum TBORP would be on the lighter version. Even when you can’t help compare the two you can’t help seeing the difference either. I have found myself grinning more watching this. The main couples interactions has initially been light, fun and cute. Prince Su was not shy about his feelings and was quite forward. His failed attempt to maintain his stern looking face when she tickles him or does something to make him smile added to his charm. It is undeniable that JJY and Zhang Zhe Han work really well on screen. They know how to work off of each other’s emotions and actions, that you can easily see it comes off natural. I adore how good these two look that if they were to be cast in another drama, I’d be the first in line to watch it.

I have often said, a good side couple can help increase the charm of a drama. Thankfully this is true in this one. The love story that revolved around Kiki Xu’s character Fu Xuan and Wang You Shou’s Wu Bai Qi has been captivating to say the least. Kiki played the reserved but smart elder sister of our FL. It would be a crime not to mention Wang You Shuo’s absolute glow up. His look, combined with the actors portrayal of the slightly damages but arrogant general topped with a husky voice has made this character one of the sexiest characters in recent memory. The couple seemed to be made for each other as our calm and reserved Fu Xuan has balanced Wu Bai Qi’s impulsive and somewhat volatile nature while Wu Bai Qi’s more carefree personality has helped Fu Xuan come out of her comfort zone. Like how she was the reason for Wu Bai Qi to clean up his act, while he was the reason why Fu Xuan tried her first alcohol drink. The undeniable chemistry between the couple, the organic growth of their relationship has made this couple more interesting than our leads.

Of course this drama has its share of problems. From weird cuts, disjointed scenes, half explored half dropped plots. Our FL’s (Fu Rong’s) choice of wardrobe and hairstyle also was unfortunate. With her petite frame, and the ribbons stuck to her hair she looked like a child instead of a girl of marriage age. The make up baked on her beautiful face, with an orange eye shadow that made her look sickly, a very bright red lipstick and the overall outfit ended up making a naturally beautiful woman look tacky.  But these were not issues we all were going to linger on, a charming story with leads that give off great chemistry can make you forgive slight problems since most of us were only looking for a light entertaining drama.

But what ultimately failed this drama is a truly poor writing. If the first half of the drama was written to invoke nostalgia then the latter half was written with the intention to cure us of it. One dull plot followed another, with little to no character growth or development for most of our leads. Plots that were initially put forward as important like the prophetic dream were left as an after thought and more time was spent on an absolutely unnecessary jewelry making corruption ones.

One of the biggest shortcomings of this drama would be the villain. I don’t know how, but the writer along with actors portrayal have managed to manifest the most pathetic of villains to waddle around for 40 episodes. The villain caught a whiff of a “who could it be” and ran with it. He fixated on one person as the source of all he lost and immediately started planning his “I’ll make them all pay” plan without taking a breathe to investigate if his hypothesis was true or not. This pathetically reasoned quest for revenge was compounded with his absolute obsession to protect and own his childhood friend. The writing for this villain was so weak I was hoping that he was a minor player and someone more formidable would come into picture down the road. However even to the end this villain has stayed consistent in being mediocre. I guess its a befitting end to a villain who embarked on his journey for the most pathetic of reasons to end in the most pathetic way.

My least favorite character next to the pathetic villain would be our supposed FL. If the problem with this character was limited to unnatural makeup and ill fitting outfits, that would have been good. However, this one has earned the right to sit among the most weakly written, useless female leads. She has made so many idiotic choices, jumped to so many conclusion, I was hoping that the ML would just give up on her and walk away. She laments on how she is not free, or how she’s wronged and yet as a married woman she has run countless times into another man’s house without giving a single thought as to how it would make her husband feel.
The writing made a big deal to have our leads reiterate how much they don’t want to hide anything from each other and they should trust each other and yet the first one to suspect Xu Jin would be our dear Fu Rong. Literally everyone close to him trust him unconditionally except the wife he married despite his parent’s objections. If her elder sister was a case for “one should marry for love” than Fu Rong would be a great advocate for arranged marriages. The more I saw her the more irritated I become by her hypocrisy. The only thing this woman managed to do is make the spoilt Princess love rival look like a better choice. Personally even if it wasn’t the Princess any other sensible girl other than Fu Rong would do.

I understand we all have our own version of a happy ending, mine would have been if Prince Su had turned back and left Fu Rong in the dust behind.


If my rating was based on the nostalgia it would be an 8.5. If it based on the latter part of the drama it would be a 6. So I’ll average it and give it a 7.5

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